Sri Lanka rejects UN demands for inquiry

By Ben Doherty | The Age
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Sri Lanka will resist international pressure to hold an independent investigation into war crimes allegations against government forces, saying countries were bullied into supporting a UN resolution against it by the US and other ''powerful countries''.

Its Foreign Minister, G.L.Peiris, said the countries which supported Sri Lanka were ''acutely conscious of the danger of setting a precedent which enables ad hoc intervention by powerful countries in the internal affairs of other nations''.

The government would not bow to international demands for an inquiry, Mr Peiris said.

The UN's 47-member Human Rights Council this week passed the resolution which called on Sri Lanka to allow an independent probe into allegations the government committed war crimes during its civil conflict against the separatist Tamil Tigers.

Any probe could be acutely uncomfortable for the Sri Lankan government, reaching to the very top of the Rajapaksa family-dominated administration.

In Colombo, protesters took to the streets, condemning the UN, and carrying pictures of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who, they say, freed their country from terrorism.

The resolution, co-sponsored by the US, France and Norway, said Sri Lanka's domestic investigation, the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission, did ''not adequately address serious allegations of violations of international law''.

Carefully worded - and watered-down from its original text - it demanded Sri Lanka ensured ''justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation'', following the end of the 27-year war.

A UN panel of experts report last year found up to 40,000 civilians may have been killed during the government's final offensive against the Tamil Tigers in the country's north in 2009.

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